Her Flower Shop
by Hanawie
Summary: When Mikan enters a empty shop, she is given a key. The next day, she returns and finds that she has been entered into a contest of power between 5 clans. Now, she has to navigate the dark maze of revenge and try to leave, safely.
1. Chapter 1:The Tangerine Key

Disclaimer-I don't own Gakuen Alice.

Italics=Thought

Bold and Italics=something important (ex: setting changes, letters)

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Her Flower Shop

Chapter One- The Tangerine Key

"Finally! No more homework for 2 days!" a brown haired girl said to her best friend.

"That's only if you finish today's work," her best friend said.

"Hotaru! Did you have to go and ruin my happy mood?" the brunette wailed.

Her friend, Hotaru paid no attention to her and continued to read a complex book about nanotechnology.

"Sakura-san!"

A yell came from behind the 2 girls. They turned around to see a boy, around 15 years old, running towards them.

"State what business you have with Mikan in less than 5 minutes or I'll shoot you with this," Hotaru said, holding a small gun in her hands.

The boy swallowed and was about to answer, when Hotaru pulled the trigger.

"On second thought, how about 1 minute?" Hotaru said, impatiently.

The boy hit the ground, knocked out.

"Hotaru! What was that for? He was about to say something," the brunette, Mikan exclaimed.

"I already knew what he was going to say," Hotaru replied. "Mikan, follow me. There's something I have to tell you."

Mikan followed after Hotaru, leaving the boy in the care of his friends. When they were alone, Hotaru turned around. Her face expressionless, except for a tint of sadness.

"Mikan, I'm leaving," she announced.

Mikan froze, her breath caught in her lungs. Hotaru waited, patiently, for Mikan to talk.

"You're joking, right?" Mikan asked, about to cry.

"No, I'm leaving for Alice Academy in Tokyo," Hotaru explained. "It's a school for geniuses and talented people.

"You can't leave me! You said we'll be together forever!" Mikan shouted, tears in her eyes.

"Sorry, but you can have this as a memento of me," Hotaru said, holding her small black gun out. "Through I'm supposed to be the one to receive gifts."

Mikan grabbed the gun and held it close to her.

"Mikan, I'm leaving tomorrow morning, so come see me off, okay?" Hotaru asked.

"Okay, I'll come. By the way what does this gun do?" Mikan asked.

Hotaru sighed in exasperation, and started to explain what the gun is and does.

"It's a Baka Gun Ver. 3.5, you pull the trigger and it shoots out compressed air bullets at idiots, morons, and fan boys."

Mikan looked at the gun and started to cry, remembering that her best friend was leaving tomorrow.

Stupid, you look uglier when you're crying," Hotaru gave Mikan a pat on the head.

Hotaru walked off toward her house. Mikan continued on her way towards her house, her tears gone.

"I'm back!" Mikan put her shoes on the top shelf of the shoe holder and step into a beautiful and western-styled house.

"Welcome back! How was your day?" Mikan's mom, Sakura Yuka asked, while slowly walking towards her.

"Mom! Didn't the doctor tell you to stay in your room?" Mikan asked.

She ran towards her mother and guided her back to her room.

"But it's so boring! There's nothing to do!" Yuka whined, her hands crossed over her chest.

"I'll go outside and buy you some puzzles to do," Mikan suggested.

Yuka's eyes sparkled, "Would you?"

"Why not?" Mikan replied, heading towards her room to change.

"As long as you don't buy puzzles for old people, they're fine!" Yuka shouted, before heading into her room, coughing some blood.

Mikan ran to her room and changed out of her school uniform. After changing, she grabbed her wallet and Hotaru's gun, and with a good-bye to her mom, she headed out. As she approaches the grocery store, she saw a shop at the far end of the street. It looked disconnected from the rest of the stores. Mikan walked over, curious about the store. An open sign hung from the top of the front door. She opened the door and walked in. The smell hit her first. The store smelled wonderful, with flowers hanging down from the ceiling in huge wicker baskets. A girl, around the age of 17, walked towards Mikan.

"Welcome to Aurora Garden!"

The girl was beautiful, with porcelain-like skin and light blue hair that was curled at the end. Her eyes were blue, like sapphire. She stared at Mikan, as if appraising her.

"What flowers would you like?" she asked.

Mikan suddenly thought about Hotaru, who was leaving tomorrow.

"I'd like some flowers for my best friend who is leaving tomorrow," Mikan requested, sadly.

"Sure," the girl answered, gliding over to a bundle of flowers.

After she selected some flowers, she approached Mikan with a bouquet of white and yellow flowers. It was wrapped with a purple ribbon.

"The flowers I selected are marigolds, pear blossoms, and yellow roses. Their meanings are written in the white card included," the girl explained.

She motioned for Mikan to follow her to the counter.

"The total price will be 1,950 yen," the girl stated.

Mikan put the money on the counter and picked up the bouquet. She stood up, ready to leave.

"Wait!" the girl exclaimed, quickly walking around the counter.

Mikan saw something sparkle in her hand.

The girl held her hand out, "Take this."

In the girl's hand was a beautifully hand-crafted key with a small orange stone at the center.

'I shouldn't, it looks really expensive," argued Mikan, through half of her wanted to reach out and grab it.

"It's okay, you'll need it soon," the girl replied, putting the key into Mikan's hand. "Come back tomorrow after giving the bouquet to Imai Hotaru."

Mikan's hand instinctively clutched the key tightly. She waved and exited the shop.

"_Strange, I never told her who I was going to give the bouquet to," _Mikan thought. _"Oh well, maybe I did tell her and forgot."_

After buying some puzzles for her mother, she returned home. Curious about the white card attached to the bouquet, Mikan opened it and took a peek. It said:

**_For Imai Hotaru,_**

**_Marigold-Pain/Grief_**

**_Yellow Rose-Friendship_**

**_Pear Blossom-Lasting Friendship_**

**_From,_**

**_Sakura Mikan_**

"_I never told her my name!" _Mikan thought._ "How did she know?"_

**_Setting Change: At Aurora Garden_**

"Did you hand the last key out?" a shadow asked, it glided past the flowers.

The shadow stopped, in front of a blue-haired girl.

"Of course, I gave it to a girl named Sakura Mikan," the girl answered, annoyed that the shadow questioned her. "All the personal information about the girls that I handed a key to, are over there."

"Good job," complimented the shadow. "The tournament will start in 2 days, after the ceremony."

"I can't wait!" the girl exclaimed, excitement in her voice. "Who do you think is going to be the Alice this year?"

"We shall see soon," answered the shadow.

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What do you think? Is the story too short or long or boring? If you have time, I encourage you to review, but I'm not forcing you.


	2. Chapter 2:The Participation Meeting

Sorry for the long wait, my computer wouldn't start up so I had to go get it fixed. It's up and running now, however it's going to be hard for me to update for a while. Enough about me, here's Chapter 2 of Her Flower Shop. Enjoy!

Disclaimer- I don't own Gakuen Alice (and never will own it).

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Her Flower Shop Chapter 2- The Participation Meeting

An alarm rang from above her as Mikan slowly got up. Deactivating the clock, she saw the small black gun she had received from Hotaru. Grief crushed her heart and tears threatened to escape her eyes, remembering that Hotaru was leaving today. Quickly, Mikan dressed, brushed her teeth, washed her face, and ate breakfast. While eating, she remembered the bouquet of flowers for Hotaru. Rushing upstairs, she entered her room. Expecting the flowers to have wilted, Mikan examined them for dead leaves and petals. Surprisingly, the flowers were healthy and seemed to glimmer. Mikan grabbed the bouquet and was about to leave. When the sound of something falling alerted her and she turned around. On the floor lay a tiny and orange box with drawings of sakura trees and petals everywhere. Bending down to pick it up, Mikan saw a silver lock with an orange stone that seemed to sparkle with vibrancy, instead of a keyhole. Seeing the orange stone reminded Mikan of the exquisite key she had been given yesterday. Searching for it, Mikan started to rummage through her bags. Unable to locate it, Mikan gave up and grabbed the box, bouquet, and her bag. Running quickly down the stairs, out the house and towards Hotaru's house, Mikan stuffed the box into her bag. Arriving at the front of Hotaru's house, Mikan saw a huge crowd of people carrying signs and some were cheering. Pushing past the crowd, Mikan saw that Hotaru was surrounded by men in black suits and sunglasses. Taking no notice of her surrounding, Mikan tried to hug Hotaru.

"Hotaru!" squealed Mikan, jumping on Hotaru.

Hearing Mikan's voice, Hotaru instantaneously dodged to the left. Mikan crashed to the floor, whimpering. She gave a slight glance towards Mikan and went back to collecting money and gifts.

"Imai-san, is it true that you have been accepted into the prestigious boarding school for the rich, famous, and gifted, Alice Academy?" a young boy asked.

"Yes," answered Hotaru. "The price for me wasting my time to tell you the answer will be 120 yen."

The boy handed the coins and Hotaru started to count it. Mikan stared as Hotaru finished counting and turn to walk to the next person. Hotaru, hearing a rustling sound, looked down and saw her foot on top of a bouquet. Picking it up, Hotaru saw a small card attached to it. Opening it, Mikan noticed that it was her bouquet. Mikan, happily smiling as Hotaru clutched the bouquet to her, tried once more to hug Hotaru. Foreseeing it, Hotaru sidestepped in time and managed to avoid it.

"I accept the flowers, but I refuse to do hugs," Hotaru said.

"Hotaru, you meanie!" Mikan yelled. "It's going to be the last day I see you, so can't I hug you?"

At that moment, two men in black suits exited Hotaru's house, her mother and father followed behind.

"Imai-san, it's time for us to leave," one of them said.

Hotaru nodded and the crowd parted as she walked towards a black car on the side of the road. The two men carried all of Hotaru's gifts, except for the bouquet, which Hotaru held. Mikan started to go after her, when she tripped over something. Looking back, Mikan saw the key she had looked for earlier. Picking it up, Mikan slipped it into her pocket and got up to catch up to Hotaru. Pushing through the crowd, Mikan saw that Hotaru was waiting for the two men to finish packing the gifts into the back of the car. Taking this chance to try and hug Hotaru while she had her back to the crowd, Mikan leaped. Hotaru moved to the right, just as Mikan was about to hug her, dodging Mikan's feeble attempt again. Mikan landed on the ground, her eyes filling up. Hotaru stood in front of Mikan, her face was cold and emotionless as usual. Standing up and dusting herself, Mikan wiped the tears off her face.

"Good-bye Hotaru, take care of the flowers," Mikan said.

Hotaru nodded and gave Mikan a quick hug. Stepping aside, one of the men pushed Hotaru into the black car, gently.

"Bye Mikan," Hotaru murmured behind the closed and shaded black doors.

She glanced out at the darkened world, her sadness and vulnerability reflected out of her eyes for a moment. Turning around, away from the window, a tiny black key fell out of Hotaru's left pocket. Mikan watched Hotaru's car slowly drive away until it was gone, tears dripped down her face. The place quickly emptied itself as people left to go home. Mikan walked to the grocery store to buy ingredients for dinner. As she leaves the supermarket, Mikan saw the flower shop. A strange atmosphere, veiled and dark, surrounded it. Curious, Mikan enters the shop, carrying all her groceries. At the back, where all the equipments and supplies were, Mikan saw two girls talking with each other. Looking closer, Mikan saw that one of them was the blue-haired girl from yesterday. However, the other girl looked exactly like the blue-haired girl. Unable to tell which was which, she approached them from behind a flower shelf. Before appearing into view, Mikan heard them talking about an event. Interested, she started to eavesdrop into their conversation.

"How many participants are there going to be this year?" asked one of the girls.

"About 250, but I think some will drop out do to the pressure and danger," answered the other one, sighing.

"You don't seem to have a lot of confidence for this year's batch."

"Obviously, ever since Yuka quit participating 3 years ago, all the tournaments have been boring."

Hearing her mother's name pop up in the conversation, Mikan leaned in more to hear. However, her left foot got tangled with a vine that was lying on the floor and she fell on to the ground, in front of the two girls. The two jumped back, one had her hand in her pocket, about to pull something out. Seeing Mikan, one of the girls relaxed and brought her hand out of her pocket.

"Rina, calm down." she said, in her hand she held a white clip. "She's another participant in the tournament."

"If you say so, then it's probably true," the girl, Rina, said.

She held a black clip and put it on as she spoke. The other girl put her white clip on and turned to Mikan's direction.

"I'm Rena and this is my twin sister, Rina. Do you have the key I gave you yesterday?" she said, smiling kindly.

Mikan nodded and took the key out from her pocket.

"I came here to return it," Mikan explained.

"We can't take it back," Rina said. "It's yours now, so keep it."

"I can't accept gifts from people I don't know!" Mikan exclaimed.

Before she could utter another complaint, Rena and Rina had grabbed her hand and were dragging her through a doorway hidden by flowers. After walking for awhile in darkness, Mikan saw a huge flower garden. There were girls everywhere, some were holding keys and others were chatting. Rena took Mikan's grocery and said she would return them later.

"Where am I?" Mikan asked. "There shouldn't be any flower garden behind the shop!"

When Mikan spoke, all the girls quieted and turn towards her.

"Another one?" exclaimed a girl with curly and dark green hair that had a perm.

"Yes," Rina said, irritated.

"Why? Shouldn't I be enough? I'll win either way," the girl pressed on.

"Shouda Sumire, do shut up before I am forced to take extreme measures," threatened Rina, her onyx eyes glowed with annoyance.

The girl, Shouda Sumire, closed her mouth. Her face and skin were pale with alarm and fright. The rest of the girls started to laugh and Shouda Sumire's face started to redden. Mikan, tired, stumbled around for a seat. Inattentive, Mikan tripped and landed on somebody. Apologizing, she got up and saw that the person she had landed on was a girl with bright pink hair. Helping her up, they soon engage in a conversation.

"Anna-chan, Do you know why all these girls are gathering here for?" Mikan asked.

"Mikan-chan, you didn't know about the Alice Tournament and is participating in it!?" Anna exclaimed, surprised.

"Alice Tournament?" repeated Mikan. "What's that?"

"It's a tournament that originally started as a battle between 5 clans to decide their clan's rank and power. Every year the Onizaku, Ryogeina, Torinoku, Shimeita, and Mizokeita send representatives to battle. "Anna explained, taking a deep breath.

"In other words, it's a battle of conquest and the losing clan has to serve the winners."

Turning around to see who had spoken, Mikan saw a girl with long, straight, and dark blue hair.

"Nonoko!" Anna exclaimed, jumping up to hug the girl.

"Who are you?" Mikan asked.

"Mikan-chan, this is my cousin, Nonoko. Nonoko, this is Sakura Mikan. She's a friend I made here," introduced Anna.

"Please to meet you, Mikan-chan." Nonoko said, smiling.

"By the way, what clan are you and Anna-chan in?" Mikan asked.

"We are in Torinoku clan!" they answered in unison. "What clan are you in Mikan-chan?"

"I don't know," Mikan said. "I've never heard about this clan battle thing until today."

"Oh…"

At that moment, Rena and Rina showed up carrying a large pile of guides. After they finished passing it around, they handed out a pin to every single girl.

"All of you should have received a pin with number on it, please wear it on the day you enter the battle ground for verification," announced Rena.

"If you have any questions, consult your guide or ask one of us," Rina continued.

"Please exit through the front door and good-bye and good luck to everybody that is competing," finished Rena.

As many of the girls leave, reading the guide, the rest stay chatting or asking questions.

"Bye Anna-chan and Nonoko-chan!" Mikan said, waving her hand as the cousins left.

Walking towards Rena to get her groceries, Mikan fought her way past the crowd. After receiving the bags, Mikan left and started to head off home. Arriving there, she saw her mother sitting on a couch in the living room, mouth opened.

"What's wrong, Mom?" inquired Mikan. "Did something happen?"

"Mikan, when did you apply for Alice Academy?" Yuka said.

"Alice Academy? I never applied for it, the tuition fee is too expensive," Mikan answered, confused.

"Then, why do you have a letter telling me you have been accepted there and you don't have to pay tuition fee?" Yuka asked. "And it also says to wear a pin when you go there."

"I don't know," Mikan replied. "Wait, did you just say I have been accepted into Alice Academy?"

Yuka nodded as Mikan felt an indescribable feeling swell up inside her.

"Yay! I get to go to the same school as Hotaru!" exclaimed Mikan.

"No, you won't be going to that school. You are already enrolled to a good school here." Yuka said.

"Mom! That's the school Hotaru goes to, please," begged Mikan.

"No! You won't go to that demon school even if I have to die!" Yuka yelled.

She started to cough and Mikan dropped the grocery bags to help her. When Yuka was sleeping, Mikan went back to the living room and grabbed her bag, the letter, and the stuff she had brought from the meeting and went back to her room. Reading it, Mikan saw that she had to go to Alice Academy tomorrow to enroll. Preparing her bags, taking some money out from her mother's secret savings, and writing a note, Mikan left the house quietly and locked the front door. Carrying with her, as she left the house, a box, letter, pin, key, and a bag she had found in the grocery bags from Rena.

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What do you think? By the way some questions:

What color is Luna's hair?

What is Anna's and Nonoko's family name?

How do you want Mikan to meet up with Natsume and Ruka?

Should I make Hotaru meet Mikan immediately or after awhile?

Sorry for all the questions, but this is my first fanfiction and I want to try and make it a story that is good enough to be put on . Please tell me your thoughts and ways to make it better. And it will probably be a long time until I can update, so have a Merry Christmas if I don't finish the third chapter by Dec. 25th. Until then, bye-bye!


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